Valve mechanism for gasoline stoves or the like



Feb. 9, 1937. E, PICKUP 2,069,848

VALVE l lECHANISM FOR GASOLINE STOVES OR THE LIKE Filed NOV. 7, 1954 l 'atented Feb. 9, 19 3 ifihii'iED STATES PATENT OFFICE VALVE MECHANISM FOR GASOLINE STOVES OR THE LIKE Application November 7, 1934, Serial No. 751,854

9 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in gasoline stoves or the like and more particularly concerns improved valve mechanism especially adapted to control the flow of low pressure gas or vapor from the manifold to the burners.

My improved valve mechanism is particularly adapted for use in controlling the flow of low pressure vaporous or gaseous material through a large valve opening, and has been applied with marked success to multi-burner gasoline stoves wherein the vaporized fuel is conveyed from the manifold to the burner outlets at a relatively low pressure. For this purpose the customary form of valve mechanism heretofore in use has been of the screw thread type wherein a rotary valve stem is supplied with screw threads coacting with complementary threads on a stationary part of the device. Operation of a valve of this type has been slow and cumbersome because a number of revolutions of the valve stem has been required to effect a full opening. Other major inherent disadvantages have resided in the excessive wear of parts due to the large contacting area which has resulted in rapid decline in efiiciency, in the liability to sticking of the valve stem due to clogging of the screw threads, and in the failure to furnish means for visual indication to the operator of the position of the valve relative to the Valve opening so that loss of gas in operation or through inadvertent opening of the valve may be avoided.

An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a simple valve mechanism having a wide operative range and constructed to fully open or close a large port to control the flow of low pressure gas or vapor and operable by novel valve actuating means more rapidly movable and requiring less control manipulation than has been possible with prior devices used for the same purpose.

Another object is to provide a valve mechanism of the foregoing character that is quickly assembled from a minimum number of parts without the use of special tools and which may as readily be disassembled when occasion demands.

Another object is to provide a valve mechanism of the foregoing character including a cam operated valve actuator adapted to allow partial opening of the valve in use and arranged to retain the valve in any such position until readjusted by the operator.

Another object resides in the provision of a valve mechanism of the foregoing character having means for visual indication of the relative operative position of the valve at any time.

Another object resides in the provision of a valve embodying few and simple parts but of strong and durable construction, which is inex-v pensive to manufacture, is easily replaceable, and reliable in operation.

Further objects of the invention, not specifically mentioned here, will be apparent from the detailed description and claims which follow, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown by way of example, and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the burner mechanism of a gasoline stove showing the application of the valve of the present invention thereto.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the valve mechanism.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the cam guide assembly.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken substantially on line 44 of Fig. 2 and showing the position of the valve stem and cam follower when the valve is closed.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the relative position of the parts when the valve is open.

An example of a burner mechanism for gasoline stoves employing my improved valve is shown in Fig. 1, wherein a plurality of open top burners I 0 and an oven burner l l are suitably connected with a common manifold l2. Liquid gasoline is delivered in any suitable manner to a generator IS in which the liquid is vaporized and directed into an air mixing duct l4 whence it passes intothe manifold tube for delivery to the burners. A usual form of needle valve operable by a handle I 5 may be used to control the discharge of vaporized fuel from the generator into the mixing duct [4. Flow of the gaseous fuel mixture from the manifold to each of the burners is controlled by an individual valve l6, including an elongated stem l 7 extending forwardly through the front wall I 8 of the stove and conveniently rotatable by a handle l9.

Referring now to Fig. 2, I have. shown in detail one of the valves It for purposes of illustration. It comprises a conventional casing or housing 20, which may, if desired, be formed as an integral part of the manifold l2. Within one wall of the housing, herein shown as the rear wall 22, is a port 23 having at its inner edge a valve seat 24. This port 23 may serve as either an inlet or outlet orifice as circumstances may demand, and one or more other openings 25 provide additional passage to or from the interior of the housing.

Valve means of large diameter is necessary to control the flow of gas or vapor through the port '23 and the present invention provides novel mechanism for operating this means. Opposite the valve seat 24 and coaxial therewith is a large opening 26 closed by a barrel member 21 through V a suitable bore 21 of which extends the stem beveled edge 30 hearing. against the valveseat 24. To prevent the valve iro'm sliding axially on the reduced portion 29 during operation of the valve mechanism, notches may be struck in any well known manner into the periphery of said portion to form retaining ridges 3l.- A dished,

spring element 32 is interposed between the valve disk 28 and a shoulder 33 at'the juncture of the portion 29 with the full diameter part of the stem so that whenpressure is'exerted by the stem against the spring'element, the valve 28 7 will be resiliently urged into seating engagement i against the valve seat 24.: i Rapid'actuation of the valve 28 toward or away 1 from thezseat 24 and a substantialrange of movement to open widetheport 23 for the passage of the relatively low pressure gaseous mixture through theval've'are possible with thepresent valve, in a manner not attainable withlvalve" 31 adapts thespring plate to fit with substantial;

clearance about the stem-l1. {Thusjthe spring V plate 53 continuouslybut resiliently-forces'thex mechanisms usually in use forthis purpose.

This rapidity *or actuation and range of move- 7 ment' 'are features'of especial desirability in the operation otagasoline; stove in which the fuel mixture is at relatively low pressure in the manifold; and ports providing substantial openings controlled by valvesof substantial diameter arenecessary for the adequate delivery of fuel to the burners. Accordingly, I have providednovel valve operating means calculated to provide maximum operative-movement with a minimum manipulate tive effort. "This; result is-j'obtained with the mechanism shown-'herein by way'of example, wherein stationary helical cam surfaces 34;and

35 on the end of the barrel 21 *(Fig. 3) together with a cam:cap 31 provide a guide fora cam follower 38 on the stem 11 soitha't rotation of the stem will move the valve 28 rapidly from the fully closedposition to the open position indicated in broken outlinein Fig. 2. Thus, the invention providesja cam transmission cooperative with the manual operating member, herein the'stelm l1,

forwidely openingthe valveupononly limited actuation of the operatingrnember;

' -As herein shown each of the cam-surfaces 34 and 35 is formed as a gentle incline independently.

' and oppositely of theother on the inner end of the barrel 21. Inflengagement withthe eam'surfaces is the cam follower 38 which is convenient- Y .ly formed as apin passing loosely through the Thus, when the; follower 381s at the stem 11.}

top. of the cam incline the valve 28 will be in closed position'and as the valve stem is rotated countervclo'clrwisaa's seen in"Fig.-2, the follower 38 'will 1 ride downwardly on the cam surfaces and the stem l1 will becarried, axially aw'ay from the valve seat to move the valve 28 toward open position. Parallel abutments 40 at the bottom of r the cam inclines halt the'move ment of the cam ing movement of the valve'stem';

7' follower 38and thus define the u it or the open- Thecam oap'31is 43 in the'cap and are-secured in tapped bolt holes 44 formedin shoulders or dwells 45 at the inner.

' secured in place through the V medium of bolts 42 which pass through apertures V the cap to fit about'the stem [1 with a substantial clearance, and the periphery of thecap' is provided with helical portions 49 and 58 formed 7 parallel with the cam surfaces 34 and 35,respecr tively, so as to cause the ends of the follower pin '38 to bear against the cam'surfaces. A flange 5| on the edge of eachof the helicalportions 49f and 50 serves to prevent transverse displacement V of the follower pin 38."

Preferably the valve'mechanismis constructed to allowpartial opening of the valve during operation and the invention provides means cooperating with the cam' guide assembly adapted to maintain the valve in such partially open position. Inthe present instance this is accomplished by creating frictional engagement of the follower be carriedby rotation of the stem; To this end I have provided a bowed spring plate 53 held in place against the top of the cap 31 by the bolts posite ends of the'plate. Fig. 2, the bolts 42 are arranged to permit substantial movement of the cap 31 toward or away from the end of the'barrel 21, and the spring plate 53 is arranged to press the cap resiliently toward: the barrel. An aperture 55 'in the spring plate formed ,coaxially with the aperture 41 in the cap}, 6' 3 a cap 31 toward the cam surfaces so that the cam The adjustment of the valve'xn 7 that the valve stemshoulde-r 33 will bear substantially against the spring 32 to create resilient pres: r

'chanism is such "with thecapandthe cam surfaces to retain the V follower in any position to which'the latter may '42, suitable bolt apertures 54 being formed at op- As will be seen from sure, against the valve 28 when in fully closed 1 position; This produces some backpressure on the stem I1 which pressure must, of course,;be

borne by the follower 38 and will tend to cause the same to'rnove along the inclineof the cam surfacesQ Hence, the shoulders are adapted toreceive'the ends of the follower pin 38in the valve closing posit on, and thecap 31 is provided with seats 51 parallel with the shoulders. When the follower is moved onto, theshoulders, therefore, the spring 38 will force the seats 51 against I 7 the ends of' the follower pin to'hold the same frictionally' in position until positively, urged: V 1 therefrom upon'the rotation of the stem; IT by. manipulation of the handle 19..

Reliableadjustrnent of the1valve mechanism to regulate the. pressure with-which the valve, 28 seats against the valve seat 24 is possible through:

the provision' on the periphery of: the barrel 21 of screw threads 58 engageable with suitable screw J 7 threads on the wall'ofthe housing'defining-the-f opening 26. At the outer end of th'ebarrel is a;

neck 59 formed as a nut for manipulationof the. i

barrel through the medium of' a suitable wrench.

' Thus, screwing the barrel 21 toward or away from the valve seat will increase or decrease the pressure with which the valve in closed position rests against the seat. Afterthe'barrel has beenadjust'edalock nut v60 serves to rigidly retai-nthe same againstfrnovement. -7Not only does this arrangement render the valve mechanismeasilyad justa'ble but it alsorfacilitates its insertionjor re- 7 movalas a unitlfor replacement or repair; al-f though the latter should seldom be necessary due to the simple, durable construction and the minimum of wearing parts.

The invention further makes provision for visual indication by means of the handle iii of the operative position of the valve. As will be seen in Fig. 4 the handle l3 may be of bar shape and disposed in a horizontal position when the valve is closed and the follower 38 is at rest on the shoulders 44. The cam surfaces 34 and 35 are arranged to permit rotation of the stem i? from the fully closed position of the valve to the fully open position by less than half a rotation of the valve stem, substantially three eighths of a full turn having been found suitable. Thus, if the stem H is turned until the follower 38 rests against the abutments 40 and the valve is fully opened, the handle it will be in the position shown in Fig. 5, and any intermediate position of the handle will show the relative degree of closure of the valve. In this manner the position of the handle will at all times indicate the exact operative condition of the valve 28, and this fact may be advantageously applied to the operation of a plurality of valves as in Fig. l, by having the outer ends of all of the stems I! in the same plane and the handles it in parallelism when the valves are closed. Consequently, when any handle is out of the parallel alinement, the operator will have notice that the valve is open, and may prevent the waste and danger attendant upon the escape of the volatilized fuel.

The handles I9 are preferably arranged to permit their individual adjustment as required by disalinement due to adjustment of the respective valves, so that a properly alined condition of all the handles may be had at all times. Thus, each of the handles !9 may be provided with an integral, internally threaded collar iii to receive the outer end of the stem H which is provided with screw threads 62. To look the handles against rotation relative to the stems H, lock nuts 63 are provided for abutment against the respective collars 6|.

I In operation, each of the valves i in the manifold l2 will be closed when none of the burners is in operation. Thus, each of the handles H) will be in the same position which may, as shown, be in horizontal parallelism. When any valve is to be opened, the handle I9 will be turned to rotate the valve stem l7 and cause the cam follower 38 to move along the cam surfaces as and 35 and carry the stem longitudinally outwardly to withdraw the valve 28 from its seat 2 3. After the valve is open to the fullest extent, the handle 89 will be in the substantially three-eighths turned position relative to the starting position, as shown in Fig. 5. If any intermediate position of the valve is desired the resilient compression provided by the spring plate 53 will frictionally maintain the follower 38 in such position on the cam surfaces 34 and 35 due to the friction provided by the cap 3'! bearing against the follower. To close the valve, the handle !9 will be actuated to rotate the shaft and carry the follower to the shoulders 44 on the barrel 2? where the same will be locked between the seats 51 of the cam cap 3? and the shoulders. Adjustment of the pressure exerted by the valve stem against the valve 28 in its closed position may be had by turning the barrel 2? to move the same toward or away from the valve seat by reason of its screw threaded mounting.

From the foregoing it will be evident that I have provided a valve mechanism particularly adapted for use in controlling the flow of a low pressure gaseous medium such as the fuel mixture in a gasoline stove, and characterized by rapidity, simplicity and reliability of operation; an inexpensive, compact and simple arrangement of parts; and a sturdy unitary construction. Moreover, the valve is of such a nature as to permit the use therewith of manual control means providing visual indication of the operative condition of the valve at any time. Due to the limited contact between the operating parts, wear is reduced to a minimum and the valve will have a long operative life.

It should be understood, of course, that while the illustrated embodiment of the invention discloses a preferred form, the same may be considerably modified in detail without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. Valve mechanism for controlling gas flow such as the flow of fuel from the manifold to the burner of a gasoline stove, comprising a valve stem having a valve element on its inner end, a member adapted to be rigidly secured in the manifold and being bored to slidably receive said valve stem, a helical cam surface on said member,

a follower carried by said stem and engageable with said cam surface, means for pressing said follower into engagement with said surface to effect slight frictional resistance to movement of the follower, and a seat on said means for frictionally retaining said follower in one position of the valve element relative to said cam surface.

2. In combination in a valve mechanism for controlling the flow of fluid through a passage, a housing, a valve seat, a valve stem including a valve at one end engageable with said seat, a cam member rigirfly mounted on said housing and having a cam surface on one end, a cam follower on said stem, a removable cam cap having a cam surface complementary to the cam surface on said member, and means operable on said cap to yieldably retain said follower in engagement with the cam surface on said member whereby rotation of said stem will cause said follower to ride over said surface for axially shifting said stem to move said valve axially of said valve seat.

3. A valve mechanism for controlling the flow of fluid through a passage, including a valve stem, a valve element coacting with the inner end of said stem and adapted to close the passage in one position of the stem, a member adapted to be secured adjacent the passage and bored to slidably receive said stem, a helical cam surface on the end of said member adjacent the valve member, a follower on said valve stem and engageable with said cam surface for moving said stem axially to actuate said valve element, and means mounted on the inner end of said member for pressing said follower yieldably into frictional engagement with said cam surface so as to retain the stem in any adjusted position intermediate the open and closed positions of said valve element.

4. In a valve mechanism for the purpose set forth, the combination of a barrel member having a smooth bore therethrough, a valve stem slidable in said bore and having a valve member at one end adapted to close a fluid port, a cam surface on the end of the barrel adjacent said valve member, follower means on said stem coacting with said surface, and a removable cap having a part complementary to said cam surface and arranged adjacent said surface with said follower means therebetween, and means for maintaining said cap in position and adapted to permit slight movement 'of the cap during movement of the follower; I r V 5. A valve mechanism of the character. set forth comprising, in combination, a fixed support, a

*valvepst em' mounted in said support, and-cam means operable in the rotation of said stem to move it axially, said cam means comprising a member rigid with said support and a member axially but non-rotatab1y movable on said support, a follower rigid with the stem and coacting j with said members, and spring means acting on said movable member to clamp. the follower yieldably between said members;

6. A valve mechanism of the character set forth comprising'in combination, 'a fixed support, a valve stem mounted in said support, and cam means operable in the rotation of said stem to move it axially, 'said cam means comprising a member rigid with said support anda member axially but non-rotatably movable on said sup-' 'port, a follower rigid with-the stem and coacting with said members, and spring means acting on said'movable member to clamp the follower yield ably between said members, said cam members providing a seat for engagementby said follower underthe action'of said spring means to hold said ,stem frictionally in a predetermined angular position. i a V l '7. A valve mechanism for controlling the flow of fluid through a passage including, incombination, a'valve andvalve seat, a'rotatable valve stem carrying said valve, means including a memmeans on its outer part for rotating the same,

benha ving a smooth borefor slidably guiding saidstem and having a cam surfa'ce onfone part thereof, a separatelyfformed camcap removably mountedion said member andhavin'g a cam surface complementary to thecam surface on'said member, and meansfcoa'cting with said icam surfaces for moving said stem a'xially to' fully open said valve upon a partial rotat'ion: of

,said stem, said cam cap being yieldable relative to said first cam surfaceto permit free action of said last-mentioned means.

8, A valve construction of the class described comprising, i n' combination, a casing including 7 a wall having a port therein and a valve seat defining thecircumference of the port, means spaced from said wall to provide apassage within the casinglin communication with said port,-said means including a bore, coaxial with said port and an axially pitched cam surface, aidwell ad- L jacent one'end of said cam surface, a valve stem passing slidably through said bore and having the inner end of said stem having a valve mem ber loosely mounted thereon for limited axial" movement and arranged to coact in sealing en gagement on one side with said valve seat, abut-- ment means on said stem adjacent the oppo site side of said valve member, a resilient element between 1 said abutment means and said, opposite side of said valve memberlfor pressing the latter yieldably against said 'valveseat, and

a follower on said valve stem coacting'with said cam surface to movethe stem axially upon rotation thereof and being disposed with relation to said valve seat to engage'saiddwell for maintaining said abutment means in compressing engagement with said resilient elementso as to hold the valve member permanently seated in thorough sealing relation to the valve seat. 7 V 9. A valve construction, of the" class described comprising, in combination, acasingtincluding a wall having a port therein and "a valve seat defining the circumference of the port, an axially movable barrel spaced from said wall to provide apassage within the casin'gin communication with saidport' said barrel including'a bore coaxial with said port and an axially pitched cam'surface, ,a dwell adjacent one end of said camv surface, a valve stem, passing slidably said stem having a valve member looselymounted thereon for limited axial movementand arranged :to fcoact in sealing engagement on one side with 'said valve seat, abutment irneans on said stem adjacent the opposite side, of said valve member, a resilient'element between said abutmentmeans and-said opposite side of said means in compressing engagement with saidrre ,silient element so as to hold the valve member permanently seated in thorough sealing relation to the valve seat, and mean s for locking'said' barrel fixedly in position, said means'being releasable to permit movement of the'barrel to; a ward or away from said Valve seat in order to' vary the tension under which said resilient elev ment will be placedupon engagement of said dwell by said follower. q GEORGE E. PICKUP.

through said bore and having means on its out er partfor' rotating the same, the inner end-of '30 

